OBX #2

We feel so lucky to be able to go to obx again.  It was just as good as I remembered!  Just like last year we got really lucky with weather.  Last year Earl hit and this year Irene hit the island - both the week before we came.  It made for perfect weather the whole week actually and not as many crowds.  If you can order a big hurricane the week before your beach stay - I strongly suggest it!  Anyways we ended up staying at Duck this year and I loved the location and house this year.  It was really nice.  The reality upgraded our house for some last minutes struggles and it was a pretty nice house.  I didn't take as many pictures this time around but we sure had fun!

 We stopped at the DC temple for youth baptisms.  Dev took his young men in and Brynlee and I got to go see the "big Jesus."  She really understood that the temple was Jesus' house and who Jesus was.  It was fun taking her through the visitor center and telling her about all the pictures.  But I was ready to go by the end.

 The best thing we did this time was take our bikes.  Duck had a ton of bike paths through out the town including boardwalks and we took a few trips along the beach with gorgeous sunsets and checking out all the cool houses.

 Dev found a pet turtle for the kids.  And I guess pet turtles deserve to walk around free in the house.  It was funny to all the sudden see a turtle walking around.  All the kids but Brynlee thought it was pretty cool!  Did we end up naming it Chester!?!?

 There was rip tide warnings the whole week but we still got some good boogy boarding in in between!  Let me rephrase that - Devin got good boarding in.  I sat 8 months pregnant on the beach and loved every minute of it.  Just the sound of the waves is so relaxing and I could sit on the beach all day long.

 We had the coolest pool in the world and with her life jacket on Brynlee could swim up and down the pool all day long "shooting with a wader un!"  (Water gun)  And Dev might have "risked his life" jumping a few stories off the back porch into the pool!

 And she loved the goggles for the first 5 minutes.  Then it would fog up and she knew to dip it in the water!  Sorry Sants for stealing all your cool pool toys!  It took about 2 hours in the pool till she was so so exhausted and falling apart from being tired.  She took a 5 hour nap one day!  Dev's favorite part of the house was probably the hot tub.

 We had to go see the Currituck light house.

 And we walked around the 23,000 square foot mansion - Whalehead.

 I had to post this funny picture cause of Brynlee's hair.  It was just in complete snarls by the end of every day!

 We made sand chairs one day and I have to say they were 2 times more comfortable than camping chairs.  I finally figured out that when laying under the shade I can make a hole in the sand for my belly and lay however I want.

 Here is our restaurant crew.  Dev's sister Ani and Daniel and Camilla joined us for the whole week this year.  Camilla and Brynlee's schedules were completely off but we did get to have some fun together here and there.

 We ate at the most amazing restaurant ever.  We decided to bag the sea food places cause we ate there last year and it was ok.  And holy cow - this place was so delicious!  I got ribs that just fell apart in my mouth.

 Then we couldn't help ourselves and ate at a great ice cream place.  It was really cute and one of those places that you serve yourself and weigh in at the checkout.  Let it be known I finally out-ordered Dev here.

 We had to bury a few people - kids included!  Chad made a great ninja-turtle.

Brynlee wasn't quite sure about the whole concept.  She was really really afraid of the waves for the first day or two.  Finally we got smart and told her it was bubbles - then she LOVED the waves and got pretty brave.

 And one of our favorite things to do in obx is the farmers markets.  We hit a jackpot this time.  The jams were amazing and I really could have spent hundreds of dollars here.  You laugh but really they had every kind of hand squeezed juices and ciders, jams, salsas, hand rolled cheeses and butter, breads and meats.  Plus all the produce you could imagine and they had testers for every thing you could eat.

 Brynlee just like the tractors and cats in the barn.

Anyways I feel like the house was so big that we never really got to hang out with the other families as much as we would have liked to.  Everyone was on their own sleeping schedules and had their own priorities of what they wanted to do.  One of my highlights was just hanging out with Devin and Brynlee the whole week either at the beach, in the pool or on our bikes.  Another highlight, Devin went out after I went to sleep and got a huge swirly shell that had washed up.  I had tried so hard that day to find one with no success.  Brynlee really loved the kiddy pool in the club house and man did we eat well the whole week!!!!  The ride home went so smoothly.  We finally figured it out and got home in a little under 9 hours.  The first time you go to outerbanks you get clothes and the second time you go you get a sticker. I guess we have joined the obx sticker club.  I just argued it has to be vinyl!!  Someday I really hope that we can bring our family back to obx!  I feel so grateful for our safety and health this last month of vacations.  I am so so excited to start my nesting to do list.  It's ambitious and I really hope this youngster doesn't come early.  My mom got her flights and that just makes the reality really set in for me.  It's coming, time never stops for me and once again I feel so incapable.  Hopefully that will change if I get some things checked off on my checklist.